Elevated skin autofluorescence is strongly associated with foot ulcers in patients with diabetes: a cross-sectional, observational study of Chinese subjects

Objective  

This study was designed to evaluate the association between skin autofluorescence (AF), an indicator of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), and foot ulcers in subjects with diabetes.     

Performance of LIDAR- and radar-based turbulence intensity measurement in comparison with anemometer-based turbulence intensity estimation based on aircraft data for a typical case of terrain-induced turbulence in association with a typhoon

The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) provides low-level turbulence alerting service for the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) through the windshear and turbulence warning system (WTWS). In the WTWS, turbulence intensities along the flight paths of the airport are estimated based upon correlation equations established between the surface anemometer data and the turbulence data from research aircraft before the opening of the airport. The research aircraft data are not available on day-to-day basis. The remote sensing meteorological instruments, such as the Doppler light detection and ranging (LIDAR) and radar, may be used to provide direct measurements of turbulence intensities over the runway corridors. The performances of LIDAR- and radar-based turbulence intensity data are studied in this paper based on actual turbulence intensity measurements made on 423 commercial jets for a typical case of terrain-induced turbulence in association with a typhoon. It turns out that, with the tuning of the relative operating characteristic (ROC) curve between hit rate and false alarm rate, the LIDAR-based turbulence intensity measurement performs better than the anemometer-based estimation of WTWS for turbulence intensity at moderate level or above. On the other hand, the radar-based measurement does not perform as well when compared with WTWS. By combining LIDAR- and radar-based measurements, the performance is slightly better than WTWS, mainly as a result of contribution from LIDAR-based measurement. As a result, the LIDAR-based turbulence intensity measurement could be used to replace anemometer-based estimate for non-rainy weather conditions. Further enhancements of radar-based turbulence intensity measurement in rain would be necessary.     

Reduce,manage or cope: a review of strategies for training school staff to address challenging behaviours displayed by students with intellectual/developmental disabilities

Members of a knowledge translation and exchange (KTE) research team assessed the training needs of the teaching staff at a school for individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities (IDD). In response to this need, KTE researchers retrieved peer‐reviewed articles for training staff working with individuals with IDD who exhibit challenging behaviours. These articles were categorised according to the following training content: (1) interventions designed to reduce the frequency of challenging behaviours; (2) appropriate ways to manage challenging behaviours in the moment to promote safety for all parties and/or to terminate the ongoing behaviour; and/or (3) procedures or perspectives relevant to coping with or ameliorating the negative impacts of challenging behaviours on staff. We then examined the training methods (teaching strategies, training duration) involved in teaching the content and assessed the effectiveness of these programmes. Overall, we found that effective training programmes consisted of workshops, practica and feedback on specific skill performance. Some forms of brief training were effective for increasing staffs' knowledge/skills and reducing the frequency of challenging behaviour.     

教育专网:助力中国教育信息化迈上新台阶——访中国工程院院士吴建平教授

吴建平院士介绍了互联网的核心技术和中国教育科研网建设的历程。吴院士团队实现IPv6关键技术的突破,使得中国教育科研网走在了世界互联网建设的前列:CERNET已经成为全球最大的学术网络。“互联网+教育”应用也是吴院士重点关注的内容。结合当前互联网教育现状,吴院士从缩小数字鸿沟、推进教育公平、确保青少年健康成长等方面探讨了教育专网建设的必要性,并界定了教育专网建设的概念和内涵,分析了教育专网建设的基本框架和可能带来的教育管理上的变革。他提出,教育专网将提供快速、稳定、绿色、安全的教育服务,作为智慧教育的支撑平台,支撑各种新兴技术对教育的渗透,进而对教育资源建设、教育改革方面发挥积极作用。未来教育场景中,教育专网必将成为“教、学、管、评、测”全链条信息化、智慧化的基础平台,将推动我国教育高质量均衡发展。     

Tracing unique trajectories of participation for a ‘girl with ADHD’: from ‘unwilling student’ to ‘agentive learner’

ABSTRACT

The overall aim of this study is to explore how individual children with long-term school difficulties follow unique ‘trajectories of participation’ in special educational needs settings, sometimes in unexpected ways, and how this contributes to alternative forms of identification and processes of learning. The data draws on long-term video-ethnographic work, tracing trajectories of participation during the course of a school year for an individual girl with an ADHD diagnosis who is a newcomer to a special support school in Sweden. We use a multi-layered theoretical and methodological framework to learning, identities and participation as situated practices to explore how the focal girl, through her everyday participation in classroom contexts structured to amplify the student’s capabilities, gradually moves from an ‘unwilling student’ to an ‘agentive learner’. Through a multimodal interactional analysis, we demonstrate how the focal girl’s actions and the teacher’s scaffolding responses are interactionally organised, and the emotional and relational dimensions in the creation of participation frameworks for learning. It is argued that the student’s agency and emerging emotional engagement in school-based learning are intimately linked to the pursuit of building long-term learning relationships based on mutual trust.     

Towards Inclusive Learning Environments (TILE): Developing the ‘Roadmap for the Inclusion of Students with Special Educational Needs in Vocational Education and Workplace Settings’

Twenty years after UNESCO's Salamanca Statement enshrined international action for provision for children, youth and adults with special educational needs within the regular educational system, this article presents the current underpinning international and national UK context for developing inclusion in vocational education and training and workplace settings. This context is explored through the justification for developing an EU‐funded project entitled ‘Towards Inclusive Learning Environments (TILE)’ and the creation of an associated audit tool, the ′Roadmap for Inclusion′, by a partnership group consisting of universities and VET settings from Finland, the Czech Republic, Estonia and England.     

Estimating Latent Variable Interactions with the Unconstrained Approach: A Comparison of Methods to Form Product Indicators for Large,Unequal Numbers of Items

This Monte Carlo simulation study investigated methods of forming product indicators for the unconstrained approach for latent variable interaction estimation when the exogenous factors are measured by large and unequal numbers of indicators. Product indicators were created based on multiplying parcels of the larger scale by indicators of the smaller scale, multiplying the three most reliable indicators of each scale matched by reliability, and matching items by reliability to create as many product indicators as the number of indicators of the smallest scale. The unconstrained approach was compared with the latent moderated structural equations (LMS) approach. All methods considered provided unbiased parameter estimates. Unbiased standard errors were obtained in all conditions with the LMS approach and when the sample size was large with the unconstrained approach. Power levels to test the latent interaction and Type I error rates were similar for all methods but slightly better for the LMS approach.     

The forgotten schools. Current status of special schools for pupils with social,emotional and behavioural difficulties in Germany: a complete national survey

The article reports on a survey of special schools for children with social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) in Germany. The schools were asked by standardised mail questionnaire about their organisational structures. The rate of return was 77% and a total of 397 schools were included in the interpretation of data. The questionnaire asked for several items to analyse the structural elements and organisational compositions of the schools. Rather than measuring the effects of instruction and treatment in the separate school settings, the present study is basic research aiming at stocktaking of the current organisational status of these schools that have barely been the focus of research. The number of structural problems that SEBD schools in Germany have to face is enormous, according to the findings. It is arguable whether optimal service delivery and support to the pupils is possible under the general conditions revealed by the present study, e.g., inadequate number of teachers and other staff members (and thus insufficient staff for child guidance), only a few schools offering full‐time schooling services, and in only a few instances do we find inter‐agency collaboration.